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Early Media Impressions of TGs
Footprints from the Past
Part VII
© 1998 by Andee W
Subscribers can review parts one, two, three, four, five, and six of the "Footprints" series.
After the Great War a time of prosperity and challenge was manifest in
England. The 1920s were in some ways the beginning of a new era, and the
beginning of the end of the reign of the empire. Industrialization, mass
production, and free trade, particularly from the far reaches of the empire,
provided unprecedented access to the middle class of high quality products.
Old ideas were being swept out, and a wave of new ideas and technologies
were arriving. Radio would become commonplace, both in the UK and in America,
and the powerful influence of nearly instantaneous communication would forever
alter the cultural landscape.
In this context some of the "old line" media were willing to try new things,
and newspapers tried many new ideas and themes to keep their readers (and
advertisers). In the flapper era women were "losing their stays," and a much
freer attitude toward dress and deportment were being accepted and publicized.
One such feature article from 1927 in The Sunday Chronicle (a "regular"
newspaper) offered that ladies "lighter summer garments" would be "equally
suitable for men." This generated a number of letters that The Chronicle
published over the next few weeks in the summer of 1927. The three letters I
provide this month came from this much more broadly-based general circulation
source. In comparison to the other letters (from the tabloids such as Photo
Bits and Bits of Fun) it tends to lend some credence and veracity to the
sources and subjects of the previously published letters. The first short letter is entitled 'Envious':
"As a penalty for former pranks, I was forced by girl friends to wear their
fashionable clothes throughout the whole of my summer holiday, and I can
testify that the dress of Miss 1927 is without question the sanest, most
comfortable, and thoroughly practical attire yet adopted by either sex."
Seemingly a satisfied customer - maybe one of us - I suppose.
One of my favorite stories is The Little Princess, and for those who do not
know it concerns a young lady being sent to London from India to live at a
boarding school. She later learns her parents were killed and she must triumph
over hardship and adversity. It is a story of sadness, happiness, and magic.
The next letter was from a reader in Ross-on-Wye, and the mental imagery that
goes along with it is courtesy of the Hollywood movie of the 1990s called the
The Little Princess:
"Sixty years ago I was met in London on my arrival from Jamaica by the two
sisters of my mother. I had been sent home after the death of my father and
mother. My aunts were the proprietors of a large fashionable girls' school in
Devonshire, and they were very much concerned about what to do with me.
When they saw me I was about seven years old, and, as was the custom then,
still wore a frock. My hair had grown long on the passage home. Thus the
bright idea struck them to keep me for a while as a girl.
Accordingly I was fitted out in London with girl's clothes throughout, and
charged, under all kinds of pains and penalties not to let anyone know that I
was not a girl. They called me Georgie instead of George.
I was kept thus until I was just sixteen, and was the most fashionably
dressed girl in the school. Those were the days of small waists and large
crinolines, and I was considered a pattern for the other girls to dress up to.
I overheard my aunts say once that "there was a mile of crinoline in her
school room." Tight-lacing was normally disapproved of, but on Sundays and
evenings 'young ladies who desired so might lace in.'
At sixteen I went to Rossall [an English public school], and, of course, had
to give up nice frocks. My aunts cried when the change was made, and I
acknowledge I felt like it. I afterwards went out to Jamaica and there met a
lady who had been at my aunts' . We became engaged. I then told her of my
school days. She was six years my junior, and told me how she and the others
envied my figure and dresses.
After we were married, when we were packing for a holiday, she, without
telling me, packed a complete replica of her underwear for me. I have adopted
that style ever since, and must say that ladies' underwear is far more
comfortable than men's. I would not on any account do without my corsets."
The last letter is from someone who actually cross lived successfully as a
flapper, and is entitled 'The Contented Typist':
"It is just over two years ago since, partly for business reasons, I decided
to adopt girl's attire, and I have never repented doing so. I was very nervous
when I had to apply for a job as a typist, and was delighted when it was taken
for granted that I was Mrs.'X'. After work hours I find something to look
forward to when I don delightfully light clothing and a smart dress."
I hope you have enjoyed this months installment. Next month we continue through the flapper era.
Andee is married with two children and lives outside Washington DC. You can send her email at AndeeW@aol.com.
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